Saiyaara

Plot

Vaani is waiting to get married to her college boyfriend Mahesh at the courthouse, but he calls to inform her that he is leaving her to marry a rich businessman's daughter to climb up the social ladder. She faints away after the news and wastes away into depression, giving up her writing

Six months later, she joins Buzzlist as an intern and meets Krish Kapoor, an aspiring musician stuck in his past and abusive childhood and battling with anger. Krish faces multiple setbacks in his musical career, including disputes with journalists, and a row with his band, but KV, his best friend, helps fund the band, although Krish's education is at stake. Krish returns a notebook of poetry accidentally left behind by Vaani at the publishing house and assaults a journalist, and becomes infatuated with her writings.

Although initially wary of Krish's moody nature, Vaani agrees to work together on a song for hip-hop singer Prince. Krish helps her to overcome a block and finds torn pages of her notebook at the cricket playground where he spends his time alone, and she begins to write again. Krish and Vaani slowly become close, and Vaani's world settles into a routine.

However, after Krish confronts his alcoholic father, Vaani comforts him and convinces him to enter rehabilitation, but Krish is forced to give up the credit for their project to pay for his father's rehabilitation, and he pushes Vaani away, believing she deserves better. They meet again at Prince's concert, where Krish confesses his love for her, and they begin dating, and Krish finally reconciles with his band.

Vaani's parents start worrying that Krish will harm Vaani like Mahesh did and confront Krish at the hospital after Vaani faints, but they reluctantly agree to let him continue seeing Vaani after Krish promises to do so. However, they are faced with the devastating news that Vaani has early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and Krish has to quit his job to care for her, and on the advice of doctors, they move to a guesthouse in Alibaug to make new memories.

At a later concert, Mahesh tries to assault Vaani, but Krish jumps to her aid, and she, in confusion, stabs his right arm and has a severe breakdown. At the guesthouse, Krish's father reconciles with him, and in one quiet moment, Krish plays a piano tune for Vaani, but she mistakes him for Mahesh and offers to write the words for his melody; Krish leaves to inform his crew that he is quitting the band to care for Vaani, but when he gets back, Vaani has vanished. Krish discovers her diary with the words to the song she named "Saiyaara" and records it in her memory before releasing it to the world, where it goes viral, catapulting him to fame and making him reconcile with his band. He continues to tour the country with Vaani's writings.

Production

The film was officially announced by Yash Raj Films with Mohit Suri signed on as the director, and is a loose adaptation of the 2004 South Korean film A Moment to Remember. Sankalp Sadanah wrote the screenplay for the film, with the dialogues penned by Rohan Shankar. The technical crew comprised of cinematographer Vikas Sivaraman and editors Rohit Makwana and Devendra Murdeshwar. Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda were cast in the lead roles, while for the female lead Suri expressed his desire to cast an actress who has not undergone any cosmetic treatments. The principal photography commenced in September 2024 and concluded in March 2025, with the film being shot in Mumbai, Goa, Manali, and Alibag.

In an interview, Suri revealed that the project was initially conceived as a potential third entry in the Aashiqui series, but it did not happen with their producers. Inspired by the Netflix documentary series The Romantics, he started working on the idea, titled Saiyaara, on his own. Later, Akshaye Widhani, the CEO of Yash Raj Films, signed on to produce and support the film under the YRF banner. Further, in an update on social media, Bollywood Hungama revealed that the end credits scene of Saiyaara was actually shot on a single day, and was a last minute addition that was incorporated less than a month ahead of the film's release.

Soundtrack

The music album consists of 7 songs, composed by Mithoon, Sachet–Parampara, Rishabh Kant (The Rish), Vishal Mishra, Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, and Arslan Nizami, with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, Mithoon, Rishabh Kant and Raj Shekhar. The film score was composed by John Stewart Eduri, replacing Suri's regular collaborator Raju Singh. The vocals were provided by Arijit Singh, Jubin Nautiyal, Shreya Ghoshal, Shilpa Rao, Vishal Mishra, Sachet-Parampara, Faheem Abdullah and Hansika Pareek. The soundtrack album was released on 4 July 2025.

Release

Theatrical

The film received a U/A 16+ certificate from the CBFC after 10 seconds of intimate visuals were deleted, objectionable words were replaced in four instances, and a static helmet safety disclaimer was added for two-wheeler scenes. Saiyaara was released in theaters on 18 July 2025.

Home media

Netflix acquired the film's digital streaming rights, and it began streaming there from 12 September 2025; the deal marked a significant shift away from YRF's usual streaming partner Amazon Prime Video, with pre-2020 YRF productions later being renewed by the platform as well. Sony Max acquired the satellite rights, having been the home of YRF's filmography since 2000. However, the Star Gold Network later acquired the rights to War and subsequent YRF releases; it then renewed all but a select handful of prior YRF productions for its own catalogue.

Reception

Box office

Saiyaara grossed approximately ₹409.18 crore (US$42 million) domestically and ₹167.05 crore (US$17 million) overseas, for a worldwide gross of ₹579.23 crore (US$60 million). Trade analysts reported that the film achieved a return on investment (ROI) of over 640%, having been produced on a budget of just ₹45 crore (US$4.7 million). The film's box office performance has been described as unprecedented by many trade experts, with The Indian Express noting that it stood out "at a time when films are struggling to break even, especially the ones starring new faces or debutantes".

The film had a record-breaking opening day, collecting ₹28.75 crore (US$3.4 million) worldwide, marking the highest opening for a Hindi film featuring a debutant male lead. Its opening weekend was strong across India, especially in urban multiplexes, with ₹83 crore (US$10 million) net earned domestically and over ₹119 crore (US$14 million) globally. By the end of its first week, Saiyaara had collected between ₹172.5 crore and ₹175.25 crore (US$20–21 million) net in India, and approximately ₹250.5 crore (US$30 million) worldwide, surpassing Ek Villain to become the highest-grossing film of Mohit Suri's career. On its eighth day, the film maintained momentum, earning ₹17.5 crore (US$2.1 million) net. On 26 July 2025 (its ninth day), it crossed the ₹200 crore (US$24 million) milestone domestically with an additional ₹15.3 crore (US$1.8 million), becoming the second fastest Hindi film of 2025 to enter the ₹200 crore club. The film crossed the ₹300 crore mark on its ninth day. Its total stood at ₹220.75 crore net in India and ₹327.74 crore worldwide by the end of day ten. By this point, Saiyaara had already outperformed the lifetime totals of Raid 2, Sitaare Zameen Par and Housefull 5 becoming the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025 as well as the third highest-grossing Indian film of the year, behind only Chhaava. This made it the second-biggest opening week for a Hindi release in 2025, behind Chhaava. By its twelfth day of release, the film had earned an estimated ₹270.75 crore (US$32 million) net in India, with a domestic gross of ₹319.5 crore (US$38 million). Its overseas earnings stood at ₹86 crore (US$10.8 million), bringing its total worldwide gross to ₹404 crore (US$48 million), surpassing Kabir Singh as the highest-grossing Indian romantic film of all time. Within thirteen days, it had climbed to become the 22nd highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, surpassing RRR and Dhoom 3.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with the lead performances and soundtrack garnering the most praise. Bollywood Hungama gave 4.5 out of 5 stars and described it as "a stirring musical saga" that was elevated by Mohit Suri's deft direction, heartfelt romance, chart-topping music, and the stellar performances of its debutant leads. Rishabh Suri of the Hindustan Times gave 3.5/5 stars and opined that while the story did not break new ground, it struck the right emotional chords, understood its audience, and delivered with sincerity, adding that "sometimes, that is more than enough". Vineeta Kumar of India Today gave 3.5/5 stars and found the film entertaining, emotional, and musical: a cinematic piece where the flaws were visible but the heart shone through.

Other critics were more reserved, pointing out the familiar storyline and uneven pacing. Radhika Sharma of NDTV gave 3/5 stars, summarising the plot as "as old as time": a bad boy meets a good girl, sparks fly, heartbreak and sacrifice follow, and then a reunion, but acknowledged Mohit Suri's strong command over heartbreak. Vinamra Mathur of Firstpost gave 3/5 stars and noted that while the love story was messy and imperfect, the lead actors sailed through it with conviction. Kusumika Das of Times Now gave 2.5/5 stars and felt the film aimed for the stars but only touched the clouds; the soul of the film lay in the performances, with occasional flashes of classic Mohit Suri magic in lines like "Mera na hona, tumhare bade hone ka wajah banega". Aishwarya Vasudevan of OTTplay gave 3/5 stars and wrote that the film did not reinvent the wheel of romance but made it spin with heart, with the harmony between the leads hitting the right notes. Jaya Dwivedie of India TV gave 3/5 stars and described the film as a slow-paced love story that tried to reach the audience's hearts despite its unfamiliarity and incompleteness.